Unemployment/Underemployment

Earlier today I alluded to the difference between government reports and those from the private sector who really don't have a dog in the fight. Well here's what I was talking about. Gallup finds underemployment at nearly 20% this is the same as the Fed's much under-publicized "U6" number (they report U3 which is about half). If you work 1 hour a week, you are on U6, not U3 and thus not in the mainstream media.

I have said again and again, the employees that we get at my family's cafe are architects, Starbucks managers, etc and they are willing to work part time for minimum wage because that's the best they can find.

So here's Gallup's take, probably a lot closer to the real deal. And just to compare, at nearly 20% and measured the same way unemployment was measured in 1929, remember that the Great Depression's unemployment peaked at 25%. We're nearly at 20%.